


I'll Color Me Blue

by stargays



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-09-10 23:41:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8944054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargays/pseuds/stargays
Summary: Holtzmann takes AP Physics and meets someone she wouldn't have otherwise. Or,Erin's life is simultaneously improved and ruined.





	1. Prologue

School isn't easy by any means. It's not easy for even the smartest people. Jillian and Erin could easily attest for that simple fact.

Jillian was easily the smartest girl in 10th grade, which wasn't _too_ difficult to be. Most Sophomores had no interest in actually doing any work. They were invisible, after all. Freshman were babies, Seniors were about to leave, and Juniors were _almost_ seniors. But Sophomores... they had nothing going for them. All but Jillian.

Erin, on the other hand, was a Senior. Some of them actually do try, so it took a bit of effort to be on top. It wasn't surprising, however, that she was at the top of her class. She'd pretty much always been. It was hard not to be whenever schoolwork was her only pleasure.

Wouldn't it be a coincidence that two of the smartest people at the school became friends?

Absolutely.


	2. Chapter One

A shaky breath passed through the auburn-haired girl's lips as she knocked on the slightly ajar door, stepping inside with a sound of approval from the man inside.

"Hello, Mr. Spengler," she said softly, meeting his friendly grin with an uncouth one as he finished writing a few things on the board.

"Early to class, are ya?" he mused, raising a bushy brow as he finished up his sentence on the board.

"I guess," she breathed out, awkwardly holding a binder in front of her lanky body as she stood in the empty space. "I hope you don't mind... It's just that it's my first class of the day, and I like being early to things. But if it bothers you, I can come on time and not--"

"No, it's fine. Don't worry, Miss..."

"Erin Gilbert." she interjected, nodding her head slowly as her eyes trailed to the board. "Syllabus stuff?"

"Yep. Boring, I know, but they make us all do it. It's honestly the _last_ thing I wanna spend time on. I tried to persuade them to just let me hand them out and forget it, but..." he shrugged, turning to reread the board.

"At this point, I'm sure we all have the school rules and procedures tattooed into our brains." Erin chuckled softly.

"Brain tattoos? You can do those?"

Erin turned her head to the left, towards the door, where someone was now standing. The girl made her way into the classroom, flashing a toothy grin at the two of them before approaching the man.

"Mr. Spengler,"

"Ah, you must be our Sophomore student."

"Is it my height?" she teased, chuckling at herself as she placed her hands into the pockets of her oversized black overalls, rocking back and forth ever so slightly on her heels.

"Is that bad of me?" he asked, smiling softly as she shook her head.

"Holtzmann," she introduced, reaching her hand out for him to shake before shaking her head. "Jillian, actually. Jillian." she corrected, as if she'd forgotten her own name.

The man furrowed his brows, shaking her small hand firmly. "Holtzmann is a nickname, I'm assuming?"

"Last name. It's what my friends call me, but most teachers won't call me by anything other than Jillian, so." she simply shrugged her shoulders, shifting her weight to one foot with the utmost, yet probably unintentional, swagger Erin had ever seen.

"I don't mind calling you Holtzmann if that's what you'd prefer."

"Really? Thanks." the blonde said, her eyes brightening at the simple idea.

A moment went by of silence, Holtzmann's observant eyes scanning the surrounding area, all but the senior who was still awkwardly standing there with her eyes locked to the ground, before they landed back on the teacher. "You mentioned wanting to speak with me to my mother, I believe."

He nodded his head, placing the cap back on the dry erase marker before setting it down, turning to face her completely. "Oh, yeah. It's nothing bad, I just wanted to double check that you wanted to take AP Physics."

She nodded her head slowly, her eyes narrowing slightly as she stared up at him. "I do."

"You sure? I'm not doubting your intelligence, I just want to be sure you're not going to drop out on me."

"Oh, no, Mr. Spengler." the blonde shook her head, puckering her lips slightly as she did so. "I took most of my other classes over the past two summers, and I pretty much finished my science credits. It was this or AP Biology, and I'd rather take this. Plus, I'm not sure that I want to dissect anymore eyes."

"So... This is a default?"

Her intensely blue eyes narrowed shut as she teetered her head back and forth, deciding what to say. "Well, yes and no. Yes because there's no other science class, and no because I'm actually interested in physics."

His brows arched questioningly, an impressed look washing over his face. "You want to work in anything physics related?"

"Most likely, but I'm not sure. I'm mostly looking to become an engineer, though."

"Really? Funny enough, I used to be an engineer before I decided to retire to the good old classroom, though I still keep that passion close to my heart."

"As you should," she agreed, smiling at the man. Her gaze suddenly moved to the other girl, cocking her head to the side as if she was studying something new and confusing. "What about you?"

It took a moment for the taller girl to decipher that yes, the mysterious blonde was speaking to her. "W-what do you mean?" Erin stammered out, her breath hitching in her throat as her stutter processed in her mind. Did she always have to fuck up?

"What do you want to be?"

"Oh... a physicist. I'd like to work with equations and things like that," she shrugged her shoulders as if it was the most boring thing on the planet. In reality, at least to her, it was the opposite. Numbers and equations kept her busy, kept her company. 

"Must be excited for this class, huh?" she asked, a soft smile pulling at the corners of her pink lips. Erin simply nodded in response, much too overwhelmed to speak again. 

"Well, I hate to break up this social event, but class starts in about a minute." the teacher noted, his eyes scanning the roster for the next class. "How about you two go on ahead and sit in the front? You're both paired together anyways."

Both girls looked at him in confusion, wondering how much of a coincidence it was that they'd both come early that day. "Gilbert and Holtzmann," he spoke up, noticing their confusion.

'Gilbert' the short girl mouthed, making her way over to the hightop tables, pulling out a black folder before hopping up onto the chair. She let her feet dangle, swinging them back and forth with a content expression. Must not take much to cheer her up, then.

Erin hesitantly sat next to her, removing the green binder from her bag and placing it on the tabletop in front of her, setting the pencil parallel to the edge. 

"Green's science's color, innit?" she asked, resting her chin in her hand and directing her gaze right at the older girl.

She shrugged slightly, her eyes focused down on the table before they lifted back up to look at her. "I suppose. Just always used it for science," she breathed out quickly, as if it hurt her to speak. 

"I see black as a science-y color too," she continued, obviously not getting the clues that Erin didn't want to conversate. Or maybe she did, and just didn't care. "You see, whenever scientists mess up experiments, and shit blows up, it can turn black. Or maybe that's just an excuse to use a black folder that I can doodle on with my silver Sharpie."

Erin nodded slowly, her eyes shifting away to watch the seniors file into the room, all of them immediately looking over to their table. The short one was attracting an awful lot of attention. Not to mention, she was awfully eager to speak whenever spoken to-- or when she wasn't, to be quite honest.  _Great,_ she thought, resting her head on her hands until the final bell rang. 

_This is going to be Hell, isn't it?_


	3. Chapter Two

The class somehow seemed to both drag and fly by, only something a first day syllabus lecture can do. Those were Holtzmann's weakness. They all pretty much said the same things, explaining some of the rules and expectations of the class and classroom, which basically mirrored that of every single other classroom in the school. And to make matters worse, they were required. There was no way out of them.

The blonde tried to keep her busy mind occupied by doodling and writing little notes in the empty spaces of the papers she'd been given, her head popping up to look at the teacher every so often to act as if she was listening. Today was one of the only days she could probably get away with zoning out considering he probably wouldn't quiz them on whether or not they should eat in the labs.

Erin, on the other hand, didn't mind listening to the syllabi, even if they were all pretty much the same. She had gotten out her highlighters and was highlighting important things in the papers as the teacher spoke, making sure to note down anything missing that he would say. She was solely focused on the information, which was normal for her in every class. Work, for her, was therapeutic; even something as simple as highlighting words on a piece of paper.

Holtzmann's gaze often drifted over to the older girl, just to see what she was doing. She was intrigued by her, somehow; maybe because she was always intrigued by the unknown, or maybe because she was confused as to how someone could be just so encaptivated by a syllabus. Regardless of what it was, it didn't stop her from looking over at her. Stare might possibly be an even better term for the way she looked at Erin. There was something about her that interested the little blonde, and if the girl had looked over at the right time, she would have known that.

There was only around fifteen minutes of class left when Mr. Spengler decided to do a class activity: introducing yourself. As if the attention in the beginning of class wasn't already bad enough for her, Erin also had to stand up and tell everyone about herself. Great. Luckily they started with the students in the back, giving her time to conjure up some confidence since she sat all the way in front. She'd make Holtzmann go first anyways, which she knew she'd have no problem doing.

Holtzmann stood up as her turn came around, slipping her hands into her pockets as she turned to face the people behind her. "Hi, I'm Holtzmann. I'm a Sophomore, and my favorite thing to do is take apart machines and put them back together." she nodded slowly before sitting down, all of her attention flooding towards the older girl.

Erin then stood up awkwardly, almost dropping her pencil in the process and, in turn, causing a few students to snicker. "Uh," she said quietly, pondering over the questions and answers in her mind momentarily so she didn't mess up, "I'm Erin, I'm a Senior, and I like math." she said, pausing to take a deep breath. Just as she was about to sit back down and go over her notes, though, she heard a voice from behind her.

"Hey, Ghost Girl, how about you tell us another story, huh?" a boy asked, smirking at her with an amused expression.

"I-I don't--"

"Yes you do! We all want to hear another one of those stories, right guys?"

"Enough," Mr. Spengler interjected, shaking his head in the direction of the student as he flashed a look.

"Come on, Mr. S! We have enough time in class for Ghost Girl to scare our pants off again."

Erin sat down slowly, folding her arms over the desk before putting her head down. She took quick breaths, her heart practically beating out of her chest.

"What's wrong, Erin? See another ghost?" some other boy asked, a few others laughing after his question.

The next voice Erin heard was different than the others. This voice was familiar, and wasn't taunting or teasing in any way. "Hey, knock it off." Holtzmann said, turning around to face the boys in her chair. "It's obviously bothering her."

"And why do you care? She your girlfriend or something?" the boy asked back, smirking at her.

"I said enough." Mr. Spengler said again, his voice raised. Holtzmann looked over at him, and he shook his head slowly. She then turned around and slouched in her seat, her arms folded across her chest.

Erin's head peeked up to look at her, hoping she'd be looking away. Luckily she wasn't looking, giving her time to study her a bit more. The blonde's face, now that she'd been angry, was red and splotchy, her eyebrows knitted as she stared intently at the clock above the board. Erin let out a soft sigh, hesitantly sitting up in her seat to look at the clock as well.

As soon as the bell rang, Erin stood up, not bothering to put her folder and pencil bag away before walking out. Holtzmann stood up quickly as well, shoving her things into her bookbag before rushing out after her.

"Hey, Erin!" she yelled after the taller girl, jogging slightly to catch up to her.

Erin looked over at her, her body tensing up slightly. "What?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'm sorry," the blonde said, looking up at her. "About what happened in class, that is. They're real dicks, but don't listen to them."

The older of the two nodded as a response, making her way towards the lunchroom.

"You have first lunch?"

"Uh, yeah..." Erin nodded slowly, holding her things close to her chest.

"Mind if I sit with you? I don't really have friends to sit with." she asked, cocking her head to the side.

Erin half shrugged, looking over at her usual table outside. "Yeah, sure."

"Cool! See you there, then." Holtzmann replied, speed walking off to get her food before the other could even reply.

Erin made her way over to her table outside, finally putting her things away and getting out a paper bag filled with a sandwich and a few other things. A few moments later, she heard footsteps before a figure sat down next to her. A small smile appeared on her lips at the sight of her best friend. Finally, someone she was comfortable around.

"Hey, Erin. How have your classes bee-"

"Someone's gonna sit with us today." she blurted out, looking up at her. "Sorry, Abby. I just... I figured I should start with that."

The brunette raised an eyebrow, smiling at her. "Did you make a friend?"

"No," Erin replied, shaking her head before quickly taking it back with an indecisive expression, "I mean, kind of, I guess."

"Who is it?"

"Holtzmann." came a voice from slightly above. Both the auburn haired girl and her friend looked up, the blonde looking down at them with a soft smile.

Oh, joy.


End file.
